MacRumors is pleased to announce our Twelfth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2021. Our goal is to save lives by increasing the number of life-saving donations of blood, platelets, and plasma. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location, our blood drive is online and worldwide.
Over the past 11 years, MacRumors Blood Drives have recorded donations of 827 units of blood, platelets, and plasma, and celebrated new signups for the organ donor and bone marrow registries. We've heard from people whose lives were saved by blood donations from strangers.
With a worldwide health crisis, blood donations are more important than ever. Donation centers have taken necessary precautions to protect donors.
This year we pay special tribute to user Timelordprime, whose MacRumors Blood Drive totals exceed 130 units of platelets and plasma. He will reach his 400th lifetime blood and platelet donation next month, having donated well over 500 units to strangers in need!
How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive - during May 2021
If you are an eligible donor, schedule a blood, platelet, or plasma donation (see FAQ), at any donation center near you. Then post in the MacRumors 2021 Blood Drive! thread to tell us about it. You'll be added to our Honor Roll.
Also post if you register as an organ donor or register for the bone marrow registry (see FAQ). You'll be added to our Honor Roll.
If you aren't eligible to donate or are deferred, please encourage someone else to make a donation, and let us know. If they donate, you'll both be added to our Honor Roll.
Share our message with friends, relatives, and followers. Thank the people who post in the MacRumors 2021 Blood Drive! thread.
How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive - from June 2021 to April 2022
In between the MacRumors Blood Drives each May, record your donations on our Team MacRumors page. We'll tally your donations and count them for the MacRumors Blood Drive next May.
Go to the Team MacRumors page and click PLEDGE TO GIVE BLOOD. (Bookmark the page for the future.)
Fill in your MacRumors username as your first name. Fill in @ macrumors as your last name.
In the comments field, tell us what type of donation and how many units, e.g., 1 unit of whole blood, 2 units of platelets, etc.
The email address and zip code fields don't matter. MacRumors won't use that information.
We look forward to another successful MacRumors Blood Drive.
Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below.
Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle
Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...
Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
For those of us in the UK who are gay/bisexual, note that the rules will soon be changing to lift the current wide-ranging ban on blood donations and replace it with a more granular assessment of risk.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55296525
Sadly not in time for this year’s MacRumours Blood Drive, but should be ready for the next one… :cool:
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think everyone should boycott blood donation.
The United States has absolutely absurd laws about who they ALLOW to donate that aren’t based in science, and they specifically disallow guys who are into other guys based on AIDS hysteria that lingers from the 80s (which is when these laws were concocted). Just because a guy has sex with dudes doesn’t mean he automatically has AIDS, and in any case, they test EVERY donation anyway. It’s just antagonistic Puritan policy that only serves to otherize a group of people.
And Macrumors’ little “if you’re deferred just go beg someone to donate on your behalf” line is garbage. You might as well be telling deferred people to say “hey pal I can’t donate blood because the government says my blood is contaminated, will you please go do it on my behalf since your blood is cleaner?”
If everyone stopped donating, politicians would probably feel more compelled to change the laws. If they don’t, then let them carry the guilt for the people who died because blood banks were empty.
Boycott blood drives.
I understand the rules need to change, but people will die without blood. So if you boycott you will get someone killed so that’s not the answer
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think everyone should boycott blood donation.
The United States has absolutely absurd laws about who they ALLOW to donate that aren’t based in science, and they specifically disallow guys who are into other guys based on AIDS hysteria that lingers from the 80s (which is when these laws were concocted). Just because a guy has sex with dudes doesn’t mean he automatically has AIDS, and in any case, they test EVERY donation anyway. It’s just antagonistic Puritan policy that only serves to otherize a group of people.
And Macrumors’ little “if you’re deferred just go beg someone to donate on your behalf” line is garbage. You might as well be telling deferred people to say “hey pal I can’t donate blood because the government says my blood is contaminated, will you please go do it on my behalf since your blood is cleaner?”
If everyone stopped donating, politicians would probably feel more compelled to change the laws. If they don’t, then let them carry the guilt for the people who died because blood banks were empty.
Boycott blood drives.
That makes zero sense. The issue is the absurd law, not the blood drive. You're protesting the wrong thing here.
For those of us in the UK who are gay/bisexual, note that the rules will soon be changing to lift the current wide-ranging ban on blood donations and replace it with a more granular assessment of risk.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55296525
Sadly not in time for this year’s MacRumours Blood Drive, but should be ready for the next one… :cool:
In my country (Belgium) gay people can only donate blood if they haven't been in a sexual relation for 1 year. Absurd.
